A watt-level 2061.3 nm self-mode-locked Ho:GdVO4 laser with optical bistability behavior was demonstrated. The bistable region was as wide as 1.66 W and the up-jump power at the on-threshold of 8.34 W was as high as 0.64 W. Meanwhile, the stable continuous wave self-mode-locking with self-start was achieved when the Ho:GdVO4 laser reached the on-threshold. The maximum average output power of 1.48 W was obtained at the incident pump power of 12.8 W, corresponding to the slope efficiency and optical-to-optical efficiency of 18.9 % and 11.6 %. At the maximum average output power, the pulse width of 124 ps was obtained at a pulse repetition frequency of 444 MHz. To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, a self-mode-locked laser with optical bistability behavior in the 2 µm spectral region has been reported.